Insights of Kissinger, Munger should serve as guiding light

Can the West learn from the perspectives of Henry Kissinger and Charlie Munger, two intellectual giants who recently passed away?

In particular, their dispassionate and erudite admiration for China’s peaceful rise offers invaluable lessons and a blueprint for cooperation that can ensure long-term global stability.

Munger, a legendary investor and longtime right-hand man of Warren Buffett, died on Nov 28 at age 99. He was vice-chairman of investment powerhouse Berkshire Hathaway.

Kissinger, the former United States secretary of state who played a pivotal role in normalizing US-China relations, passed away on Nov 29 at age 100.

Harvard University summa cum laude graduate and former professor Kissinger was a luminary in US foreign policy, while Harvard Law School magna cum laude graduate Munger was a billionaire investor. Both epitomized the apex of Western intellectual discernment.

According to Business Insider, “Munger was respected for his immense wealth and his recognition of China’s achievements. … Kissinger represented a bygone era when the US was more invested in benefiting from China’s growth than curbing its potential dominance.”

Henson Tiu Laurel, founder of the Philippines’ Diliman Book Club and a former University of the Philippines educator, said: “Two of the brightest stars in the American intellectual firmament, centenarian Henry Kissinger and almost-centenarian Charlie Munger, who died on almost the same day, were both ardent admirers of China. They had the vision with the breadth and depth to look on China from a global-historical perspective, to view China as what (British author) Martin Jacques had called a civilization-state. Kissinger’s views are laid out in his book On China, while Munger up to the very end kept on investing in many businesses in China. They also had a massive following in China.”

Kissinger’s perspective, as eloquently laid out in On China, navigates the intricate landscape of historical forces and global power dynamics. Emphasizing dialogue and cooperation, Kissinger advocated for a strategic partnership between the West and China, steering away from confrontational posturing.

His recognition of China as a unique civilization-state underscores the necessity for geopolitical leaders to adopt a global-historical perspective. The lessons are clear — engage in thoughtful diplomacy, respect cultural intricacies and cultivate collaboration for enduring global stability and human progress.

Kissinger’s wisdom offers a blueprint for transcending ideological divides, fostering a world where shared interests prevail over adversarial tensions.

A lasting legacy of Kissinger was his agreeing to language that eventually became part of the 1972 Shanghai Communique and the one-China policy as a foundation of US-China relations: “The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.”

Munger, meanwhile, provided a unique view of China’s phenomenal economic trajectory. His investments in Chinese businesses attest to his deep appreciation for the country’s socioeconomic and technological progress. His admiration extended beyond economic indicators to the great discipline of the Chinese people, their remarkable work ethic, and a commitment to long-term strategic thinking.

Munger’s perspective underscores the importance of adaptability and foresight in the business landscape. For leaders navigating economic complexities, Munger’s lessons in resilience, discipline and farsightedness are ideal guiding principles. China’s peaceful economic ascent, marked by strategic pivots and long-term vision, aligns with Munger’s principles.

The insights of Kissinger and Munger call for nuanced narratives. Recent years have witnessed an unfortunate surge in unfair and negative reports on China, fueled in part by anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic and adversarial geopolitical posturing.

In contrast to past Western powers’ rises accompanied by colonial military conquests and gunboat diplomacy, the peaceful ascent of

“Opening up the services industry is a key task to thoroughly implement the opening-up policy, and it is quite innovative and sensible for China to open up financial markets while strengthening supervision to defuse systemic risks. Yet there is still much room for improvement regarding aligning with high-level global economic and trade rules,” Wei said.

“We need to further downsize the negative list for foreign investment, improve government oversight efficiency, and remove invisible trade and investment barriers while reducing tariffs and subsidies. It is crucial to promote the free flow of production factors via a unified domestic market to reduce trade and investment costs and improve productivity.”

Speaking at an economic forum in Beijing on Wednesday, Tang Wenhong, assistant minister of commerce, said that China will introduce a number of innovative and comprehensive measures in areas such as trade, investment and finance, in order to further advance opening-up.

Tang Yao, an associate professor of applied economics at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, said the most effective way for China to become more attractive to foreign investment and trade partners is to further unleash the potential of the domestic market, and it is important to restore the confidence of private enterprises to enhance employment and boost household incomes to stimulate domestic demand.

The Central Economic Work Conference said that market access for the telecommunications, medical and other service industries will be eased, while efforts should be made to align with highstandard global economic and trade rules, resolve issues such as cross-border data flow and equal participation in government procurement, and make “Invest in China” a popular choice.

Zhao, the UIBE president, said that China should lower tariffs on intermediate goods, which could increase the country’s domestic production capacity and quality, to eventually add resilience to its position in global industrial and supply chains against the background of the adoption of so-called de-risking strategies by some.

He also said that China should enhance the implementation of national treatment for foreign companies while abolishing discriminatory regulations, increase policy stability and transparency, and ensure the equal participation in government procurement of all types of enterprises to encourage fair competition and spur productivity.

In digital trade, China can learn from international practices to relax the cross-border flow of commercial data under the premise of safeguarding national security, in order to better integrate itself into global digital markets, he said.

Experts also said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, some people outside China have misconceptions about the country, so it is important to let the rest of the world fully realize China’s determination on opening-up.

Zhao suggested that China further promote the cross-border flow of people and organize more international forums and events to create more face-to-face communication opportunities for Chinese and foreign people, which he said would help improve each other’s conceptions.

Thanks to the development prospects and ever-improving business environment in China, many multinational companies said they are committed to the Chinese market.

“I know China will continue to open up and will continue to integrate (with the rest of the world), but I think from where we stand today, it is already a very open, friendly and good place to do business,” said Paul Murray, CEO of life and health reinsurance at Swiss Re, a global reinsurer.

Underpinning the rapid growth of China’s insurance market are factors including the country’s robust economic growth and expanding middle-income population, he said.

Eddy Chan, senior vice-president of the US-based express courier service provider FedEx Express and president of FedEx China, said FedEx has full confidence in the high-quality growth of the Chinese economy, and will continue to leverage its global networks and transportation capabilities to deepen cooperation with China.

I know China will continue to open up and will continue to integrate (with the rest of the world), but I think from where we stand today, it is already a very open, friendly and good place to do business.”

Paul Murray, CEO of life and health reinsurance at Swiss Re